My legs are now noodles!

So most of the stuff has made its way to the second floor of my building and boy did I get a workout! (probably needed it)
The constant up and down has really worked out my legs like they haven't been probably since grade school and boy am I feelin' it today.
There is still so much to do, cleaning (big time), a few more things to move, a fishtank to transport and stuff to buy.
So I am off to the Lowes and Target, then back to the grind...or should I say stairs!

My DSL and phone is supposed to be transferred upstairs today, so I am hoping to get caught up on blogs and emails if it is all working this weekend and I get everything moved.
Until then...Have a fabulous weekend.

And I am not allowed to ask for sibling help for moves for another 10 years, so either I am hiring movers next time or I'll be here for a while.

That little Elephant...again!

Here's that elephant again.
Used a VERY old transperency on the bottom and some found gingham ribbon I got in a swap with that red gingham like 4 years ago!
Very simple, but effective if I knew someone who just had a baby boy.

Welcome, little one

I love love love this A muse elephant stamp, think it is adorable for a baby card, so I made several. Then realized, I know no one who is pregnant. Or anyone who has recently had a baby.
Duh!
Probably won't stop me from making a few more cards with this little Elephant.
And to think that I actually hate elephants (long story or several stories) but can't put down this stamp.
Ribbon is from Archivers, super cheap, like 29 cents a yard, I think.

What's Cookin'?

Love this sentiment so much!! (just wish there was a "good lookin'" stamp too!)
My buddy Carol had 2 grill stamps from A muse but no "saying" to go with them, until I bought this one at the big Sale a couple weeks ago.
It's that Red Gingham Ribbon...again!
And the grill is colored with the pencils...again!
Inked up that scallop and did some faux stitching with the white gel pen.
Voila!

You know you're getting old when...

not only can you not acurately see the shape of a sketch, but you can't read the letters on the typepad word verification to save your life!

Seriously! Lately it has been taking me an average of 3-4 times to get those stupid letters on the Typepad right. Sometimes I get so frustrated I just quit.
Am I the only one?
Is typepad making them more difficult so that it can laugh at the verification challenged?
Am I getting them right, they just like messing with me?
So frustrating.

Fishy Card

I apologize for the blur.
Been rushing lately with the move and all, my pictures have been suffering.
Used the little fishy stamp from A muse which I colored with my Prisma pencils and blended. Love how the colors aren't flat like with markers (not copic though!) or just pencils alone. Made sure to keep them light on the top sides because of the sun, right?!
The one little fishy is pink with glitter...made this last week for the challenge, still finding glitter on myself every day.
Didn't have any Best Fishes stamp so I used the one that reads, It's the little things that matter.
Patterned paper is super old KI Memories.
Rounded all the corners of the card just to make it a little different.

Happy Summer

Simple card for summer.
Love how I can layer these A muse Stamps and make a fast, cute card.
Shoulda moved the rectangle over just a smidge, oh well.
Used those Hero Arts Crystal Gem Stones again, just realized they come in different colors...duh!
Colored the straps of the flip flops with an American Crafts gel pen, got some to try from my buddy Carol and I love how opaque they are on colored paper, and shiny too.
Just noticed I'm using the Dunkin Donuts colors again...I think I subliminally want an iced coffee!

Ahhnouncing...Challenge #9 Entry

First card to fit this weeks Ribbon Challenge.
Found this ribbon over the weekend in a stash of ribbon I keep all tucked in a jar, looks cool but seldomly gets used.
The red and white checkered screams Summer! to me, picnics, kids, bright colors...all summer.
Used my new little announcer stamp because I just knew he was wearing that red jacket and it matched perfectly.
Once I started with this ribbon, I couldn't stop.
Used all I had, so expect to see a few more cards with this same color scheme.

When I got this little guy I kept asking myself, as I usually do before a purchase, what the heck will I use this for? What exactly is he ahh-nouncing?
This is how I stay on a budget and don't buy out entire stores...secrets of the frugal!
Figured he is announcing...Happy Birthday! or Congratulations! or You're Cool!
What can't he announce?!!!

So, yep, he passed the usefulness test and home he came.
To be turned into this...

Amuseapalozza Challenge #9

RIBBON!

This one should be easy for many, many people I know.
You know who you are.
Rolls and rolls of precious ribbon just waiting to be cut.

So yank 'em out, cut away, use the stash....Win a prize!!
All you need to do it create something with ribbon and you're in.
So get crackin'.
You can submit as many entries as you want, the more you submit, the more chances you have to win.

Prize this week is a combo of golfing stamps, I was looking for that golf bag a couple weeks ago, coulda used it for Dad's day.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?

This is one of the first A muse stamps I ever got my hands on way back in the days when I used to work at the Big "A".
I always loved it.
Love cocktails.
Love how these particular cocktails make me want to lay on a beach somewhere and sip them down, slowly as not to get a brain freeze.
Love how there are three choices for me, Cosmo, Mai Tai or Margarita....all yum!
Used the prisma pencils to color in the actual drinks, gel pens for the flowers and just doodled the scallop with a black marker myself.

After I made all these cards this weekend(I was on a roll), I realized, I ran out of white paper!!!
Oh the horror!!
Can you believe that?!!
So until I get my hands on more, looks like I am up for a challenge.

Amuseapalooza Weekly Winners!

More winners were just posted.
Sadly, didn't see my name.
There's still time...fingers crossed!!

Stay tuned, I see a challenge coming.

My OLW

Did a lot of crafty things over the weekend when I shoulda been packing...shhhh...don't tell my mother!
Put together this page for the One Little Word Challenge last week. I really love the prompts they have with one little word and it gets me going and thinking.
Last week's word was "My" and inspired me to use my St Patty's Day photos to showcase My 2nd favorite holiday.
I love how it shows off some great pictures of a fun day, but also tells a little something about me too, very cool!
I try to scrap with a little more purpose lately so that I am telling my story a little more than just, "here's this day and what we did".
Know what I mean?
So, if you need a little inspiration and something to get ya thinking, check out their blog and their little words.
So, here's my layout, the colors are a little wonky, not sure why.

Used: Bazill Cardstock, Scenic Route Paper that is in strips (have you seen this?!!!-love it!), MM letter stickers, Bo Bunny letters for M and Y, Scrapworks circle letters, MM rubons for the year.

These are my all time favorite letter stickers because they are very thick and resilient, plus you can place it on a layout and as long as you don't push too hard, you can still move them! Love that. Plus, they come in different fonts all in one package and there is like a bagillion of them.

Wisconsin Weekend

Went out to Wisconsin over the weekend to celebrate this one's graduation.
Time flies, I can't believe he is this old already, I'm too young for my younger sister's kid to be 14, almost 15! Yikers!
There were games to play and food to eat.Saw some relatives I rarely see because they live in Indiana.
Sister(Steph), Mom, Sister(Colleen), Cousin and Auntie from Indiana.
My sister Colleen did a great job pulling it all together and she barely needed any assistance from the party planner, me! She only called me once and asked, "What am I supposed to do?"
I took a lot of pictures because lord knows you got take like 100 to get 10 good ones and my little brother took some too. Him and the stupid manual mode really killed some great shots, I kept forgetting to change it back! Grrrr!
I did get this great picture of my mom and sis, man, do they look alike in this picture!
Also got this picture of almost all my siblings, one chose not to attend the festivities, so she's missing and my brother Andrew looks a little sleepy but it was the only good shot, the others were, you guessed it...blurry!
Also, my brother took this picture of me arguing with my nephew who was murdering the cake, I just couldn't stand by and watch the massacre.
If ya look closely you can actually see the "red" in my hair if you haven't seen me lately. They are "under lights" or so that's what my dude calls them. I've had them for a couple months now and like 'em, but they fade so fast I have to retouch them about every 2 weeks!
Max didn't want me to "stand out" too much, I think I am enough of an attention getter on my own and he doesn't always approve of my "style", so this was the compromise.
My own parents just noticed yesterday and I've seen them at least 3 times since I got them!
Greta got some red too recently but on top, very similar shade though and I don't think her hair is as black, is it?
So besides the crazy craftin' I did over the weekend (15 cards and a page!), I spent it partying in Wisconsin and packing.
Yep, still packing.

Happy Summer!

Now that it is officially "summer", I have been cranking out some cards to send out to spread the well wishes for this humid season.
So far we have been pretty lucky here in Chicago, only a few days of gross heat so far which is good news for the girl who doesn't have her air conditioners in yet!

The card is 5x5, thought I'd change up my sizes a little.
The paper is from American Crafts and it was one of the 10 cent sheets I got at the big sale over at Stampology. It is double-sided, so the "red" is a perfect match and that blue is from another sheet from the same line, so that matches perfectly too! Love that!
The cardstock is Bazzill, they have so many colors, you can always find a match.
The flip flops were stamped in black and then colored in white and a blue gel pen.
Small bling was added to them as well, I love the Hero Arts gems because there are 4 sizes, so you can always find the perfect match.

I am really loving my scallop punches now, which just makes me want more!
But I am having a slight problem when I punch paper with a white core, like the double-sided paper I used here.
See, how I get some of the white on the edges, like it was ripped

Does anyone else have this problem?
Know a solution?
Just think it looks kinda crappy with that white on the edges like that, like I chewed the paper or something.

Scootin' Monday

Actually made this card last week, but that nasty bug I had really affected my blogging!
I used my new A muse stamps, love that little scooter, I got at the big sale a couple weeks ago.
The paper is from Scenic Route, it is double-sided so the inside of the card is Navy.
Colored the little scooter with markers and a silver gel pen.

Amuseapalooza Weekly Winner

Kristina Lewis, you won this week!!????
You lucky girl.

If you haven't checked out Kristina's blog yet, you really must, she has some amazing A muse samples and projects! Balance!

There's only a couple weeks left of Amuseapalooza, so you still have a chance to win one of the awesome weekly prizes, but you have to be registered to win!

Amuseapalooza Challenge #8

So this week's challenge is to create a card design for a non-traditional celebration.
So forget about your Thank yous, birthdays and Hellos...make a card to celebrate the wackiest, silliest and craziest holidays.

You have til Sunday to post your card over at the Amuseapalooza blog.

Need Help?
To find a list of upcoming July Holidays click, HERE.

RAK- Kathat Stamps

Got this great RAK card from Kathy the other day and I love it because not only is it one of the American Art Stamp chicks (this one actually looks like a girl!) but it uses the cuttlebug and as a girl that owns no "bug machines", I love to see what people are making with this nifty gadgets.
How cool is it that she inked over the embossing?!!
And she wrote the nicest little note too, love that personal stuff.

Kathy's got a great blog, Kathat Stamps, which has great projects and weekly eye candy. I also love a glimpse into the Cali way because as a midwest gal, it seems like a million lightyears away and wonderful.
Thanks Kath- Love being bloggie buddies too!!

Don't forget to check out all my freebies and sale stuff, they are going fast...Thank goodness!

Clean Sweep! - Freebies!!

Ok, so here it is, the big list of things I will not be moving to my new place.
You want it, you got it.
Now, please keep in mind that everything is free, but you must pay for the postage, I just can't cover 25 packages to be sent around the world.

So follow these simple rules and play nice:
* The first person to claim an item in the comments section of this post (at the bottom of all this), gets it. I will attempt to update this post as the requests come in, but if you really want something, I suggest you check to make sure someone hasn't claimed dibbs on it first.
* Each person can only claim a maximum of TWO packages. Seems fair, to give everyone a chance to get something.
* Each person who claims a package pays $3 for shipping and handling. I don't want to calculate anything separately, but I will if it is requested. All items will be shipped together, so you pay $3 total even if you have two items. The small items that can be shipped in a small envelope (the Alphabitties) will be only $1 but that is assuming that you don't claim any other item.
* Canadian gals...Add an extra $1 for shipping, so it is $4 for you girls. Someone tell me if that is reasonable.
* Yes, most of the stuff is used. But it is still very use-able. If you don't wanna pay the $$$ I shelled out for all this stuff, this is a HUGE deal. This has got to be at least $80 in paper alone! So, yes some of the stickers are missing and the stamps were used, but they are all good and free.
* When you claim an item please use the titles I gave it, makes it simpler for me to track and please add your email address and I will send out all final notices and paypal info for the shipping payment.

Ok, I think that is it.
Thanks for helping me lighten my load and I hope everyone gets what they want.

CLAIMED - Michelle

CLAIMED - Lorrietori

CLAIMED - Rita B.

CLAIMED - Heather S.

CLAIMED - LauraCLAIMED - Stampin' TrishCLAIMED - ConnieCLAIMED - LauraCLAIMED - LorrietoriCLAIMED - Heather S.

CLAIMED - Rita B.

CLAIMED - ScrappinTrish

UPDATE: I updates everything that has been claimed up til this morning (Thursday 6/21) and added who is getting it right above the picture. Please be sure to include your email addresses when you claim something, way to hard to open all your blogs and "find" ya, if you haven't added your email address, be sure to shoot me an email! (spazzgirl555@yahoo.com) Thanks!

Clean Sweep- For Sale

Ok, so I have just three things that need to be actually sold and not given away.
I was going to put them on the 'ol Evil Bay but figured I would offer them here first.

The first thing up is my Chatterbox Collection, features the book, which is brand new still has the price tag on it ($20), sticker sheets, diecuts, envelopes and snaps/brads. The whole thing sent to ya for $20, well worth over $40. If you are grabbing something from my RAK list I can combine the shipping for both items, just gotta figure out how heavy it will be.

CLAIMED - Kristina Lewis

The second item is the CK book from a few years ago, has a font CD inside the front pocket. Great for beginner scrappers. $5 and $4 for shipping.
And lastly, these Autumn Leaves clear stamps I used exactly once. I didn't love the acrylic like I thought I would. Two of the stamps have slight yellowing but are still perfect. Original price was $15, now only $5 with $4 for shipping.

CLAIMED - Kalyber
The shipping is a little higher on these because I want to be able to track them and send them out priority so I can make sure you're getting it, you are paying for it after all.

Clean Sweep - Kid Freebies

Ok, who has little ones about the age of 4-7??
Want a RAK just for them?

Well, I have a magnitude of stickers, books and coloring books...brand new to send out to them as a little summer treat.
All you need to do is be the first four people to comment on this post with your email address and I will send it to your kids, no cost to you!!

Also, if anyone still has a VCR and would like some Disney VHS movies for your little ones, you are more than welcome to those to, except you would have to pay the postage because it would require a box. I have about 12, all Disney classics, all still working.

UPDATE: All my kid treats have been claimed! Good news for me, less stuff and happy kids.

Relax...It's Wednesday

I am officially on the mend (again), thanks for all the well wishes.

I mentioned that over the weekend, I got some new stamps.
Sure did, thought I would give ya a sneak peek.
They were also having a drawing for prizes at the stamp store as well as the huge discount, bonus!, and they called yesterday to tell me I won a little something. How cool is that.
I was so elated with the 30% discount I didn't really need anything else, but a freebie is always nice.

My pal Carol also came over on Friday and let me borrow her HUGE A muse stamp collection.
Isn't she the best?!!
She knew I was struggling and she is so generous, so she left them with me.
Horrible timing because I played with them on Saturday morning and then was pretty much sick since then, but I am crazy stamping all the images so I can use them later.
Thought I would give you a little peek at her amazing collection.
I was gonna pour them out to show you the real magnitude, but I think she would faint, she has them very nicely packed in these two boxes. Yep, there are layers of stamps in there!
I am sooooooo jealous.
But really don't hafta be because my friends are the coolest and share.

Made this one card last night, I am still not 100% but these stamps are sitting on my table, screaming at me to use them. How can I not.

Picture looks weird because of the reflection of the stupid screen.

The internet is down at work, so I am home today, can't work without it, so here I am. Gives me time to chill, well, actually it just makes me pack more for the big move next week.

I have taken all the pictures for the things I am giving away, over 25 "packs" of things!!
I will posting all of them after 6pm CST today to make it fair for all the people who don't check the internet during the day. Because first to claim it, gets it!
Plus, I need time to upload all those pictures...sheesh!

So, stay tuned....6pm....Today....Free stuff!!